1. Wash the sweater in the washing machine, using hot water and laundry soap. Dry in the dryer. The sweater will shrink and become felted.

2. To make a pattern, place one hand on paper with your thumb out and your other fingers together. Starting below your wrist bone, trace around your hand, leaving an extra half inch of space the whole way around. Cut out the pattern, then trace around it onto paper and cut out another pattern.

3. Piin the mitten patterns, thumbs facing in, to the frelted sweater. The pins should go through the front and back of the sweater. For a finished edge, use the waistline of the sweater as the cuff of each mitten. Cut around the patterns through both layers of sweater.

4. Remove the paper patterns,. For each mitten, pin the sweater pieces together, matching the thumbs.

5. Thread a large-eyes meedle with a 6-foot long piece of yarn. Make a large knot at the end.

6. Beginning near the cuff of one mitten, push the needle through both layers and around the edge. A short distance from the first stitch, push the needle through again. Stitch all the way around the mitten.

7. Tie a large knot at the cuff, and trim the excess yarn. Be sure to remove all pins.